Going to HK (out of order)

This is going to be quick. Leaving hospital in 20 min. I have tried to post this 6 times, so it is not much easier from here than Shanghai!!!

We flew down to HK on Monday. China Eastern was late as usual and we went through the gate on the ticket, but then got on a plane on the lower level at a different gate, so we really weren't sure we were going to HK until we landed. Not sure where everyone else's luggage went, but only 4 pieces came out on the belt when we arrived and thankfully, 1 of them was ours!

We were surprised to find out the HK airport was still playing Christmas music on Jan. 4th!
I told Ian that he could choose what he wanted to eat and do on the trip, so he tested me by making me go up and take pictures of the Christmas display 2 floors above where we were. Then we at at Burger King.

The HK dollar is about the same value as the Chinese RMB, but when you say the taxi is 300 dollars, it makes my heart about stop! The hotel was quite a ways from the airport, but traffic was almost nothing compared to Shanghai.

Got to our hotel and explored a bit around there, got some snacks at the 7-11 and then headed off to bed after watching some strange soccer game played in the sand.

Had to be to Adventist Hospital (only 5 minutes from the hotel, but up some very steep hills so glad we opted for the taxi) by 6:30 am. Registration and getting his vitals went well. The room was huge and staff very nice. Everything was so clean compared to China! We met the anesthesiologist and surgeon (whom we had met in Shanghai) before surgery. Ian brought cookies he had made for all the staff and handed them out as he went along. They were all very thankful and surprised. Such a generous boy!

Ok..just got discharged. We are off to the airport, so we will do pictures from AOL later.
Love to you all!

Ian is out of surgery

Ian's surgery lasted longer than than expected (almost 2x as long) because his hernia was bigger than they expected or had gotten bigger since the surgical consultation, so I was very glad we had the surgery done sooner rather than later! The doctors and nurses were wonderful. They let me go into the operating room and put Ian under with gas before starting the IV, so there was no fighting over that (he hates needles). The anesthesiologist gave him a very small amount of an extra sedative before waking him up so he didn't get all adjitated from the anesthesia as he was with his other surgeries. I had to sneak a picture of him in his hair covering when he was still asleep because he wouldn't let me take one when he was awake.

Adventist Hospital HK

We made it to the hospital this morning right on time. All going smoothly - all the staff speaks English, the is very clean and friendly. Our room is huge and we have a big TV with lots of movies and games to choose from (we are not in China that is for sure!). I will take some pictures soon. Ian is really not liking the hospital gown, so we will have to take some when he is still under anesthesia :)
I forgot 7th Day Adventists are vegetarians, so we will let you know how the veggie chicken nuggets are later...

Bye for now

Ian and Lara in HK for Ian's Surgery

We are in Hong Kong to have Ian's hernia repair done. Since I am able to get to our blog here, just wanted to put out a quick note to let people know where we were. He is doing quite well and not too nervous. I have been plugging this as a big adventure for Ian and mom without the little brothers, so that seems to have helped. Will try to get some of the many pictures I have to post and updates on the surgery asap...Surgery is Tuesday morning our time and we should be back in Shanghai on Wednesday if all goes as planned.

Ian's first Day of School (2nd Grade)

Ian has been counting down the days until school starts for most of the summer. His mom and didis (little brothers) do not provide enough entertainment for him I guess.
He woke up this morning in a great mood, ate in record time, got dressed in the blink of an eye with no complaints and went and sat in the car long before we needed to leave or either of his parents were dressed. Let's hope this keeps up (yeah, right...but I can dream)

Ian waiting in the car - buckled up and ready to go.

Ian running up the stairs way ahead of Shane and me

In front of his cubby

With his new teacher, Mrs. Forrester

Field Day

This was a fun (and beautiful) day. They had about 7 games the kids played and learned a school fight song.

Ian has a good take off, but we think he will be a distance runner. He can run for 1/2 km without slowing down.

Ian watching Lia's race

This has to be genetic! Why does the tongue have to come out when they are concentrating?

Henry and Ian between heats

Aaron wasn't too interested in the races

Ian and Ariana

Ian, Ariana, and Karsyn

Being silly

Another game

learning teamwork

Ian's Kung Fu Class

Ian now has Kung Fu after school every Monday. He has really enjoyed it and is doing well.

I have been really impressed with his teachers. There are 3 of them and 1 is some sort of Kung Fu Master. They all could be in a Jackie Chan movie!

Ian and Eric in new sports classes

A couple of weeks ago, Ian started a Multisport class where they practice skills from a variety of sports. So far he has had soccer and field hockey. They will also do gymnastics, cricket, basketball, and tennis.

"Daddy, why can't I get out there and play?" :(

Eric also has a class later in the day. He is taking tennis lessons and it is amazing how quickly they can catch on.

I give up...if I can't play, I'm just going to take a nap!

Practicing ball handling

Samuel also did his exercises in the Johnie Jumper while we were gone. He wore himself out and fell asleep right there! This is how we found him when we came home.

Chapel

Ian's class and a 2nd grade class were in charge of the elementary school chapel last week. They sang some songs and did a skit. Ian did great! He had a lot of lines to memorize and din't make any mistakes.

Ian's school

It has been a very busy time for Ian at school. He has had his Book Week where they had different activities every day to encourage the kids to love reading. This weekend we had to build a leprechaun trap for St. Patrick's day (good thing his dad is an engineer). The first picture is of Ian reading the book he wrote, illustrated and published to a 3rd grade boy. It is about when Aaron was born. He was so proud to go to the 3rd grader's class and read to them!


The next 2 are of when they had a reading camp-in and everyone brought their sleeping bags and read on the floor and had a pretend campfire and real s'mores.




Ian's new favorite book is about Bakugans, which he loves to play with his friends. They are these little balls that pop open with a magnet and turn into different animals, etc. One day they had a character parade and everyone dressed up like their favorite character in a book. Ian and his new best friend, Henry, both dressed up as Batman, which they didn't plan ahead of time, so were so excited to see they had the same idea when they got to school. Ian said that he really likes Henry because they have so much in common. When I asked him, "like what?" He said, "well, we both like bakugans, Batman, Spiderman, and we both have a brother from Korea." This was a cute perspective. Henry IS Korean, but was born in Singapore, but his older brother Andy was born in Korea. They just moved here from Beijing a couple months ago. (Sorry the text is all in weird places, the program I use for posting to the blog has a mind of its own)
The last picture is of Ian's Leprechaun Trap. He is very proud of it. It says, "NO LEPRECHAUNS ALLOWED" because they are naughty little guys who don't follow signs. There is a trap door at the top, so when they try to reach for the gold coins they will fall down inside the mountain into a container. We'll let you know how many we catch.

The heart of a child

I just wanted to brag on the 2 geges (big brothers) for a minute. Samuel left for the hospital on Monday, by that night the boys were putting in a request for, "the next baby." They announced that they would both like to have a sister "next time." When I was pregnant with Aaron, Ian always wanted him to be a girl, but Eric wanted a boy. Ian never once complained once Aaron was born, I think he is just patiently waiting. I tried to explain to them that when Aaron was born mommy had the doctor make it so she cannot have any more babies. Deterred not in the least bit, Ian asked, "well, aren't there any girl BB babies?" I told him there were lots and showed him the picture of the Healing Home party. "Well, why can't we have one of those?...OOOH that one's cute!" I told them they all have families. "OHHHHH!" Eric exclaimed, thinking he had it all figured out, "so, all the babies in China now have a mom and a dad?"

"Well, no." I said as I realized where this was heading.

They just both stared at me for what seemed like a long time.

"Well, why can't we get some then?" Ian asked

"Some? How many kids should we have at our house?" (why do I even set myself up like this?!)

After careful thought Ian said, "maybe 100."

"YEAH! or a thousand!" Eric chimed in.

"And where would 100 children fit in our house?" (You would think after the allowance fiasco that I wouldn't try to use logic or reason with Ian)

"well, do you remember when we went to camp?" (we helped at an English camp in Korea that brought American, S. Korea, and N. Korean kids together) "we could have lots of bunk beds in the rooms like that."

"Do you know how many 100 is?"

"50 + 50"

"we'll see"

"we can pray about it"

"I said we'll see!"

Now, how am I supposed to argue with such big hearted boys?! Especially when they gang up and get God on their side?!

This is Ian and Amanda at the Middle School Play

math of a 1st grader

I have been quite surprised at some of the things Ian is learning in 1st grade. I don't think I had a science class in first grade, but if I did, I know I didn't have to do a poster on an arachnid. And I KNOW I didn't have a typing class or a foreign language! But it is not just book knowledge that is keeping me on my toes...

(can you see his school in the background? this is us walking home from the school bus through our compound - isn't the water and bridges quaint? Doesn't it make you want to come and visit?)

We are trying to teach the boys to be responsible with money and also to be good citizens, all the while helping them with practical math. So they now get an allowance and have to help with setting the table, etc. (hard to do when you have full time help, but we are trying). Anyway, if they have to be told to d0 something multiple times before they do it, they lose some of their allowance or if they break other house rules like talking meanly to people, etc. So on Saturdays they get their allowance and then they have to figure out how much they are going to give at church ("give back to God" as Eric says) and how much they are going to give to help other people (no lack of choices here! They are both so generous though. We are very proud of them in this regard. Eric often gives most of his money to a man that sits outside the church with only part of both legs and part of an arm and saves none for himself). Anyway, they had a particularly hard week a couple weeks ago and I was trying to show them the results of their bad choices and bad behavior. I didn't have any change so I showed them a 10 RMB bill (about $1.25) that they normally get. I explained that if they give 10% to church and 10% to help other people then they normally give 1 RMB. But when they don't get their full allowance then not only do They not get to keep as much money, but then there is less money to give to others, too.

Then I gave Ian the 10 RMB and took out a 5 RMB bill out of his bank.

He looked at me and said, "no it is all the same."

"How do you figure?" I asked.

"Well, I will give on my 5 RMB and you will give on yours and it will all be the same."

"No, I gave you 5 RMB, I didn't get any money."

"Yes! You just got 5 RMB out of my bank!"

"But I was making change. It is not new money that I got"

"You didn't have it before and now you do. So you should give some back to God and some to someone who needs something."

"But mommy gave you that money for your allowance. I just made change in your bank."

"and I just gave you the 5 RMB like you gave me 5 RMB, so we should both give some back to God and some to someone who needs it. Then it will be the same as me having 10 RMB."

by this point I just gave up and put my whole 5 RMB in the pot we keep money in to buy rice for orphans in Anhui (see flier below)

I know it is small. Maybe you can click on it and make it bigger...

Anyway, the moral of the story is:

"have proper change before giving out allowances"